Disney Skyliner (Gondola Transportation System) Read Post 1 Now Open!

[hertamaniac]

I missed it, but the concept art at DHS near the load/unload station did show window louvers; I somehow expected the orientation of the gondolas to be transverse to this (I know it's concept art).

 

[joelkfla]

I'm a little disappointed that Disney is hiding the mechanical works in the stations. I find it fascinating to watch. The Peak-2-Peak gondola at Whistler even has a public catwalk to view the works up close, and I think I spent a good half hour up there.

From bioreconstruct on Twitter:

 

[The Pho]

A lot of the big resorts have viewing spots for some of their gondolas and trams. They really are cool to watch. Maybe Disney will make it a special tour someday.

 

[rteetz]

I'm a little disappointed that Disney is hiding the mechanical works in the stations. I find it fascinating to watch. The Peak-2-Peak gondola at Whistler even has a public catwalk to view the works up close, and I think I spent a good half hour up there.

From bioreconstruct on Twitter:
View attachment 334119

The boardwalk turn won’t be hidden.

I actually like they are covering things up to stick with theming and what not.

 

[PolyRob]

The boardwalk turn won’t be hidden.

I actually like they are covering things up to stick with theming and what not.

Having recently walked from HS to Epcot I can say I am also happy Disney is theming them! The large metal apparatus' do not look very visually appealing.

 

[Jen1995]

I just can’t understand how people think Disney hasn’t thought this through given the massive legal liability it could be. Also forget about Disney, but dopplemeyer will make sure that this works because this is the first big time project they’ve done outside of a ski setting in the states and giving them a lot of visibility to American audiences for the first time. They will make sure this works simply because of how bad the PR would be if it didn’t

I've been in boardrooms with executives who are wowed by glossy brochures (and charts with statistics they can't really interpret) but don't bother to explore details until after they've given a project the greenlight. Happens constantly. They hear "injury reports are exceptionally low on our product" not realizing that the product has never been tested on this particular population in this particular environment.

 

[umichigan10]

I've been in boardrooms with executives who are wowed by glossy brochures (and charts with statistics they can't really interpret) but don't bother to explore details until after they've given a project the greenlight. Happens constantly. They hear "injury reports are exceptionally low on our product" not realizing that the product has never been tested on this particular population in this particular environment.

Maybe they’re idiots but I’m sure the army of liability lawyers would have a lot of questions to ask

 

[Jen1995]

Right but they are going to market the gondola as a feature of staying there and likely up the price accordingly - and if you don’t want that feature there are other values you can stay at instead - these aren’t the only on property hotels

And remember the only way to get from the Poly to EPCOT is the monorail - so they have set the precedent in the past to not have a secondary form of transpiration

You can boat to MK and bus to BC and walk right to the IG at EPCOT.

 

[Jen1995]

Maybe they’re idiots but I’m sure the army of liability lawyers would have a lot of questions to ask

They can ask, but there aren't really answers. All they have are data from different populations/settings. And those data look GREAT! Lawyers satisfied. Until the actual testing begins on the Disney population. Then they might have their hands full.

 

[joelkfla]

You can boat to MK and bus to BC and walk right to the IG at EPCOT.

You can bus to MK or AK from any of the Skyliner resorts, and make a connection.

 

[Jen1995]

You can bus to MK or AK from any of the Skyliner resorts, and make a connection.

Let's not be silly. Boat to MK from Poly is nothing like the 25 min bus ride to MK from those value resorts. What percentage of people can't ride the monorail? Probably less than 1%. Over 5% of the population has a significant fear of heights. 5% have diagnosable claustrophobia. Even if those people overlapped 100%, that is a HUGE percentage of guests they would be forcing to double or triple their travel time.

 

[joelkfla]

Let's not be silly. Boat to MK from Poly is nothing like the 25 min bus ride to MK from those value resorts.

It's 10-15 to AK. I've never timed the boat from GF to MK with a stop at Poly, but I would guess it's at least 10. Bus from Pop to MK is normally about 20.

I don't have the expertise to dispute your percentages, but I found some lower estimates on the web. And I don't accept your assumption that ALL persons with those problems would find the gondolas unusable, as there may be varying degrees and varying trigger factors.

 

[rteetz]

Let's not be silly. Boat to MK from Poly is nothing like the 25 min bus ride to MK from those value resorts. What percentage of people can't ride the monorail? Probably less than 1%. Over 5% of the population has a significant fear of heights. 5% have diagnosable claustrophobia. Even if those people overlapped 100%, that is a HUGE percentage of guests they would be forcing to double or triple their travel time.

If less than 1% of people can’t use the monorail why would it be much higher for the skyliner? You aren’t much higher and both are in the air.

 

[Jen1995]

If less than 1% of people can’t use the monorail why would it be much higher for the skyliner? You aren’t much higher and both are in the air.

One is dangling from a wire in a small compartment 75 feet up in the air, one is essentially a train on an elevated track that is still on the ground. Is there any point to trying to figure out why people have these problems? The issue is that Disney has to reasonably accommodate these people.

 

[Mome Rath]

Disney already reasonably accommodates those that choose to eschew a certain mode of transport, usually that's for free, but definitely through taxis, and now Minnie Vans as well. This is not a problem.

 

[umichigan10]

One is dangling from a wire in a small compartment 75 feet up in the air, one is essentially a train on an elevated track that is still on the ground. Is there any point to trying to figure out why people have these problems? The issue is that Disney has to reasonably accommodate these people.

75 feet? I don’t think the Skyliner is going to be that high.

And they don’t have to accommodate people. They’re going to advertise the heck out of it, so it’s not a huge random surprise that it exists. The easiest solution if you don’t wanna ride? Stay somewhere else

 

[Jen1995]

Disney already reasonably accommodates those that choose to eschew a certain mode of transport, usually that's for free, but definitely through taxis, and now Minnie Vans as well. This is not a problem.

Requiring them to pay for something that other guests have included in the price of their room is not reasonable accomodation.

 

[Jen1995]

75 feet? I don’t think the Skyliner is going to be that high.

And they don’t have to accommodate people. They’re going to advertise the heck out of it, so it’s not a huge random surprise that it exists. The easiest solution if you don’t wanna ride? Stay somewhere else

Gondola hotels represent almost 1/4 of on property rooms (and even higher percentage of their value/moderate options). Disney can't tell 5% of their guests that 25% of their rooms are off limits any more than they can tell their other special needs guests to either suck it up and wait in line or go to another theme park.

 

[Mome Rath]

Requiring them to pay for something that other guests have included in the price of their room is not reasonable accomodation.

But they aren't requiring them to pay. They have equal access to all the transportation, if they choose not to utilize those then that is their choice. They have the means to use all free transport as well. The reasonable accommodations are indeed there. They also have the added accommodations of access to taxis, and Minnie vans. It's not going to hurt Disney's bottom line, in fact, access to the gondolas is probably going to help it. Adding the gondolas adds more choice of preferred transport from one's hotel and from the specific gondola parks. Part of your picking a hotel at Disney has always included looking at what transport is offered where and when. This is no different.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Gondola hotels represent almost 1/4 of on property rooms (and even higher percentage of their value/moderate options). Disney can't tell 5% of their guests that 25% of their rooms are off limits any more than they can tell their other special needs guests to either suck it up and wait in line or go to another theme park.

Sure they can - there are other options (for values you still have all the all stars)

And for the 5% people that refuse to ride in gondolas but insist on staying at a location that uses gondolas as a form of transportation there are MinnieVans